On Dec 17, Jim Hill wrote
As far as this mailing list is concerned, I don't care what your
philosophy is on the larger
issues of the day. And, quite frankly, I'm not really interested in
receiving email about it.
Jim,
As for your last sentence, I entirely agree. I'll say just this.
In 1990, I was in Kuwait in an entirely non-combatant capacity
running a training course for the Mitsubishi importer in a self
employed capacity when Saddam and his mob walked across the border. I
was in the wrong place at the right time,
unwillingly got myself arrested after 10 days in hiding and was
transferred to a jail in Baghdad where I rotted for three months.
Well, I didn't quite rot. I experienced something called torture.
This entailed removing my finger and toe-nails with pliers and
without an
anaesthetic, having my genitals hooked into the mains electrical
supply, being beaten senseless with truncheons and being forced to
witness four
firing squads shooting deserters from the Iraqi army. Oh, I had the
water torture too. Finally, they
put me in front of what turned out to be a mock firing squad - and
eventually came to the
conclusion I had nothing to tell that was of any use.
I have no grievance against the Iraqi people - except to say they are
being greatly misguided by a tyrant and a total lunatic who IMHO has
to be
destroyed and 'taken out' at all costs. Maybe I'm biased but whatever
this present conflict is called
is irrelevant to me. I just hope, no - I pray, FERVENTLY, that the
sons
of bitches who did what they did to me are on the receiving end of a
Cruise missile, bullet, bomb - whatever. I'm not fussed - but I'll be
VERY glad if they wind up VERY dead and VERY soon. For this outburst,
I neither expect nor ask for sympathy but Saddam Hussein and his
regime which I witnessed many times in the eighties and before I went
to Iraq unwillingly and under armed guard, is the personification of
evil and must be eradicated for all time.
Let's get back to Triumphs, home brewed beer, photography, cross
pollinating brussel sprouts - anything! For my own part, I have
nothing more to say on this subject - either on or off list. It's a
pity so much time has been devoted to this issue today. What many may
not realise, is that having been on this list for the better part of
a year has been one of the most wonderful therapies I could have.
It's taken me back to a period of my life which I had all but
forgotten and about which I've been able to write. That in itself has
been an incredible therapy, mainly because what that bastard's
henchmen did to me wrecked my life and damned near finished me off -
for good, five years later.
John Macartney
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